They are good, yes; but more to the point they pioneered touchscreen ordering back in the 90s. You basically go in there and build what you want from the ground (bread) up, and put whatever the hell you want on it, however you want it – and they make it for you.

The interesting thing to me is that Billie is so very wrong, but is acting from genuinely positive emotions–she wants Walky to feel better about himself and the situation, and if that means Dorothy has to be spited, then let the spite flow!

It’s sweet, in an utterly deranged way, which is typical of Billie, really.

Semi-useful. Going to class is good, but if the point is just to “seem fine”, he won’t get much out of it. Granted, sometimes just by going to class, you start to pay attention and absorb the information, but it requires some active learning on the student’s part, especially given Walky’s position.

There’s occasional jokes from Walky that Billie has some kind of attraction for him, and Joyce formerly shipped them (dunno if she’s since stopped), but Walky treats her as a sister. Given Billie’s drunken attempt to mack on Sal once, it’s kind of muddy water how the relationship works from Billie’s end. I’m guessing it’s probably mostly platonic on her end, too.

Nah. Billie was pretty popular in high school up until the drunk car crash deal.
I think it’s more a “I knew you when…” Kinda friendship that got some life put back into it when she lost her social status.

Yeah, this is your ex, you’re supposed to hate them with a fury like the heat of a thousand exploding suns, regardless of the fact that just a few short weeks ago, they were the love of your life! C’mon, turn your feelings on a dime, like absolutely everyone else!

I always liked this fight, particularly when Billie mentions Walky taught her how to fight (and kiss, though that’s a different scene altogether).
I keep hoping that this version of Walky also knows how to fight and that we just need the right (or wrong) situation to bring it out of him.

That aside, it’s good to see Billie trying to be there for her friend, even in a spiteful manner. It shows that their friendship isn’t just lip service.

Hell, I’m not sure I’ve ever liked Billie in a vacuum. But her character has been tied so closely to Ruth for so long that some of my audience affection for Ruth rubbed off on her. But now she’s skipping class and therapy, breaking sobriety, trying to drag Walky down to her level…

A year ago I finally kicked the most toxic friend I’ve ever had, and I think I’m gonna be flinching at shitty people like this for a very long time.

I’d say also because Dorothy and Billy aren’t really friends, just in the same friend group. She doesn’t have the time or effort to care about Dottie’s feelings, her childhood friend is in pain. I’d probs give the same advice to my best friend if the person they were heads over heels with dumped them. Like, this isn’t atypical advice for a friend to give after a breakup. I don’t why people act like this is just a Billy thing. Back in College My ex broke up with me and we were in 3 clubs together (Both officers in one), D&D group at her house, and shared a few friend circles. Friends gave the same advice and it comes from a good place.

Maybe Billie should’ve waited a biiiitttt longer. Give him some more time to wallow.

I would say this is bad advice regardless. It all about being spiteful and focuses on the ex’s feelings that you’re supposedly supposed to be pretending to not care about. If you’re not supposed to care about them, you should be allowed to feel your pain, just reminded not to let it consume you and drive you away from every day life.

No, this is Responsible-Walky. Walky can be Responsible-Walky, in a sulky, ineffective, fall-on-his-sword-because-he-can’t-find-any-better-way-to-do-it way. He just HATES that so he tries to avoid situations where he has to be Responsible-Walky like the plague. But every now and then he gets stuck with the job anyway despite his best efforts.

As much as some people dislike Walky, you can’t really call him a bad boyfriend. Heck, he’s even being a decent ex boyfriend.
Personally, I’d like to see a little more bitterness about the whole situation. He’s coming off as a bit too nice.

Walky has a deep inferiority complex rooted in knowing he’s never lived up to his mother’s expectations (and thus never actually earned the disproportionate favor he gets over his sister). He fundamentally doesn’t think he was good enough for Dorothy, and that’s been exacerbated by the breakup.

He’s not being “nice”, he’s being submissive because he thinks he deserved to be dumped. Kinda like Dorothy isn’t exactly being “responsible”, she’s cutting herself off from people and working herself to death.

Except until recently he WAS living up to those expectations. The problem is that his math grade is currently taking a sledgehammer to his self perception and making him question his fundamental worth because the Walkerton parents are shit parents who make things like grades and work and all the appearances of being a happy, successful mainstream American family the be all end all.

I mean I guess that depends on how important basic personal hygiene is to you in a significant other. Like he’s a nice enough guy when he’s not peddling tedious machismo nonsense but god is he physically gross.

Honestly, even if it seems mature, i’m not sure if that’s the right mindset for Walky to have. Billie’s isn’t either for sure, but both focus too much on how the ex feels. He’s gotta show up because he can’t let one person’s actions, no matter how special that person is, de-rail things.

Can’t say Bille is necessarily in the wrong here, at least in attempt. The hardest breakups to process are the one where it seems like nothing was wrong and there’s obvious mutual attraction still lingering. Hard to really help a friend get over that.

Walky can’t afford to. OTOH, he already wasn’t going, so what the hell.

Yeah, this breakup is going to take awhile to play out, for both of them. I’m still not actually convinced it’ll stick. Though it’s possible Walky will have moved on before Dorothy bottoms out and realizes this wasn’t really a fix to her problems.

I think what Billie needs is a monumental kick in the butt. The drunk-driving incident and the ton of horrible (and mostly self-inflicted) crap she’s been through ever since have clearly taught her squat. On a wider spectrum, I think being too popular in high school is one of the most psychologically stunting things that can happen to a human being, so there’s that.

True. Both Walky and Dorothy are doing a piss-poor job of separating themselves from the other right now… Dorothy does an even worse job then Walky – he at least focuses on his own math problems as well.

Billie’s advice is not very good IN REASON, but the RESULTS would at least be a step on the right way.

Curiously enough, no. The problem is that she has somehow convinced herself that basically selfish and antisocial behaviour is somehow praiseworthy. She has somehow failed to connect this with her social problems, nor has she made the connection that the one semi-healthy close relationship she’s made at IU was when she failed to follow her own ‘rules’.

Also, guys, Walky’s reason is just as bad as Billie’s, if not worse. He’s basically saying, “I have to pretend to be healthy for my ex-girlfriend’s sake.” Walky’s self-worth has never been lower than it is right now—if anything, Billie is trying, ineffectually, to shock him out of it.

Walky and Billie actually have a lot in common in terms of self-hatred. The difference is that Walky’s self-hatred is based in a sense of inferiority given to him by his mom (and his “perfect girlfriend”), and Billie’s comes from a shitton of toxic habits and coping mechanisms. Both of them feel like burdens on those they care about. Billie lashes out by becoming more toxic in various ways, or by cutting herself off. Walky makes himself a martyr and decides he “wasn’t good enough”.

Walky really isn’t okay, guys. Neither is Billie. This comic is a great case study in two very bad coping techniques.

That’s not QUITE where his insecurity comes from. He doesn’t feel INFERIOR per se (except compared to Dorothy). The root of his self esteem problems comes from him struggling lately and the way that’s affecting his self image – he’s the good child, the ‘smart one’ who skates by without trying, the lighthearted goofball. His grade in math is kinda taking a sledgehammer to all three of those (because in his home, goodness also entails good grades and his worrying about it is making him CONSIDERABLY less lighthearted) and now he has no idea what to do or what he’s worth now.

I think it’s more than that – I think Walky had a sense that his favoritism from his parents was largely unfounded even as a kid, and I bet he had some guilt over how he could loaf off and do well while others busted their asses for Cs.

Walky hasn’t ever had to work hard for anything in his life – and he knows it but doesn’t want to examine what it means, because of the ramifications for everything else in his life.

Like, when I was a kid, I knew for damn sure my sister was the favorite. Thing is, she knew it too and didn’t ever want to admit it. It’s easier to cast yourself mentally as the underdog or the justified victor.

Honestly, she got out worse off than me after all was said and done. Like for me, it lit a fire and a motivation to prove them wrong. For her, it convinced her that no matter what she achieves she didn’t deserve it, that our parents somehow pulled strings. She pulled herself out of three different promising careers because whenever she starts to succeed, she convinces herself she’s a fraud and pulls up.

I’m queer, I’m trans, I was the scapegoat growing up, I’m autistic and chronically ill, and I’m closeted so I’m read as a woman in an industry where the male:female ratio is north of 9:1. Shit’s always been stacked against me, so when I succeed, I know it’s me. My sib doesn’t have that.

Likewise I think Sal is in the same boat. She’s always been expected and set up to fail. And I won’t lie – that’s damaging as fuck.

On the other hand, when she succeeds, she knows it’s her success and not someone letting her play T-ball when everyone else is playing hard ball. Walky’s eyes have been opened to how easy he’s had it, and he’s questioning everything in his life up till now – which isn’t to make light of Sal’s situation, but more to point out that favoritism often hurts the favorite even more than the scapegoat.

I don’t know about that – until Sal screamed it in his face, I think Walky was under the impression his parents treated them equally, but he did more to make them proud like get good grades and not get arrested. He might feel that way NOW but I don’t think it was there as a kid. I think he tuned a lot out because it made it easier to pretend everything was fine. NOW he’s dealing with things like imposter syndrome and self image and self worth issues. Fun times being the golden child, eh, Walky?

My sister denied it loudly at the time but nowadays admits she knew it and never wanted to question it (for basically the same reason Walky never thought to question Sal’s treatment), hence why I’m a bit skeptical of Walky’s claim of ignorance. I think he knew but didn’t want to open the can of worms by questioning the explanation he’d been given. OTOH Walky could just be that oblivious.

IIRC, we know Billie’s parents have been effectively absent for a long time (“My dad’s on every business trip known to man, while my mom’s doing business on every man known to her”), that her dad only knows how to show his affection through large gifts of cash, and that he also had all the homeless people expelled from their town for…reasons.

I mean, she’s doing that here, a little bit, but she’s trying for a lot more.

I think Walky I generally being sweet, but he COULD trip into “nice guy” town? I get why Billie wants him to be mad, but I think he generally just wants that. For Dorothy to be happy. Even if you have a point, Billie, I think he’s doing it for all the RIGHT reasons.

He isn’t just being a sappy doormat, hiding pain through insincere empathy. he isn’t being “weak” or “uncool.” I think he’s just generally giving a shit about her.

Which, I think, Billie knows. I think her comment is her being aware of it, and that messes her up cause she really doesn’t know what that’s like.

I mean, her “GOOD” relationship was/IS super messed up? So, like, a none hostle break, what’s that? Walky not being a LOSER dork, but a SAPPY one. I think it’s hard for Billie to swallow? That big old heart of Walky’s.

This reminds me a lot of FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER of all things. Crispin Glover’s best friend is trying to get him to stop pining for his ex-girlfriend and focus on getting someone new. Ironically, his sensitive devotion gets him time with one of the girls they meet–and they’re put off by his friend’s chauvinism.

Dorothy didn’t play with him. She just learned that doing fun-only relationships isn’t really her thing. He was part of the learning process. That not a comfortable position to be in. But heck, they are 18, it’s normal they don’t know all this about themselves already.

Which leaves her where? Because I think that avoiding relationships entirely isn’t her thing either, even if she seems determined to give that another go.
She made a comment, right before she hooked up with Walky in the beginning about it being “self-sabotage” and distraction.

That sexual attraction can be a thing that overrides her good sense for some time but not for long, probably. If she weren’t so exhausted from overwork and took some time to think about the relationship in terms of what happened with herself in it, not about that is bad for Walky to be janked around (which she knows and told him).
As to her work-life-balance: She is still in the process of learning her ideas about it don’t work. Right now, she doesn’t have a clue how to manage her work and no clue at all how to have a relationship.

Also, Dorothy was clear from the outset that their relationship would not last forever, as she has her sights set on Yale while Walky’s plans for the future include living in a Kickstarter-funded trampoline park.

His parents are the reason Danny is the way he is about relationships. Not that I think Dorothy handled the part of that relationship we know about well, but Danny’s parents are only not terribad if compared to Blaine.

Yeah, don’t forget how Danny’s mother – when Dorothy was sixteen – gifted Dorothy with a picture-frame-for-two engraved with scripture extolling marital virtue, and kept calling her a “treasure” over and over again…

No, Dorothy just has a type for guys who are willing to be supportive and take a back seat to her ambition. Unfortunately, because of how guys in North America are raised to view themselves as the top priority career-wise in any relationship, it means her type leans towards dudes with major confidence issues and no personal ambition.

Dan has no self-confidence whatsoever due to his parents. Walky’s self-confidence was totally a house of cards built entirely on his self-image as the genius who can loaf off and still achieve.

Seriously, stuff like this sheds a light on exactly how messed up her home life must’ve been growing up. You don’t assume everyone will take sadistic pleasure in others’ pain during breakups/rough patches unless that’s what you’ve seen modeled.

Frex: I struggle with believing my genuine emotions will ever be accepted as genuine by others because as a kid any time I showed emotion other than rage or docile happiness, I was told, “I know your game. Stop trying to manipulate me, it won’t work. Quit crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” My reaction is to take myself away when I’m upset because if I show anyone I’m upset, I believe I’m in danger and that nobody will believe I’m actually upset.

Billie has shown that she has that same level of conviction that others will be sadistic to their partners in rough patches. What does that tell you about her home life?

It tells me that her parents are really really shitty at modelling healthy conflict resolution.

yeah… when I was growing up, being sad was allowed (and sometimes mandatory), but anger was not. eventually I didn’t think I had anger, it was suppressed so far down. I had to relearn how to access those feelings, and how to turn them into something more useful than incoherent self-sabotaging rage.

also, I had to tell a friend something they didn’t want to hear a couple of days ago, and my body is still reacting as if this is some life-and-death situation 😛 holy fuck.